British cinema chain
The Light Cinemas (stylised as the light) is a British independent cinema chain that exclusively screens films using digital cinema technology.
The Light was founded in 2007 by former Cineworld director Keith Pullinger and former Warner Village Cinemas director John Sullivan.[2] The oldest UK cinema in the chain is currently in New Brighton, which opened in December 2011. Since then, twelve more venues have opened across the UK, while the company has also been involved in cinema exhibition internationally, in Bulgaria, Germany, and Saudi Arabia.
The cinema chain offers screenings of both mainstream and independent films in a 'luxurious' environment, with standard cinema ticket prices. Their venues also include a café/bar, and some include entertainment facilities such as bowling, karaoke, climbing, and retro arcades. The Light offers Premiere cards, which allow subscribers to view films for a flat monthly fee.[3]
Brand
The Light initially sought to compete with its major rivals by taking advantage of digital cinema technology, which is comparatively cheaper than traditional film stock projection.[2] The chain is exclusively digital, meaning that it can also broadcast sports, live theatre, music and opera performances.[4] Additionally, Pullinger has argued that digital screening gives The Light a 'flexibility' to choose between showing more, different films and showing the same film on several screens simultaneously.[5]
The Light also pitches itself as a "community" cinema.[2] It offers an alternative to the traditional multiplex concept, focusing on customer comfort, and criticising larger chains for being "locked into Hollywood blockbusters".[5] The Light regularly show films in various languages depending on local demographics,[2] and champion accessible cinema with regular screenings featuring audio description, subtitles, and that cater to the needs of those with dementia or autism.[6] In the spring of 2019, The Light did screenings of a variety of anime films, including some from Studio Ghibli.[7]
As part of their attempts to create what Pullinger described as a "cinema environment that feels luxurious, with plenty of atmosphere and personality",[6] The Light cinemas have a café/bar incorporated into the venue.[2] For example, in the Bolton venue that opened in 2016 they included large murals depicting heroic movie characters, and designed their furniture to have a rough finish in a nod to the town's industrial heritage.[8] From 2022, the chain started offering new facilities in some of its venues, such as bowling, mini-golf, interactive darts, climbing facilities and karaoke.[9]
History
Founded in 2007 by Keith Pullinger and John Sullivan,[2] The Light opened its first UK venue in December 2011 in New Brighton,[10] followed later by a second venue in Wisbech in May 2014.[11]
The cinema chain made national headlines in 2015, when they successfully raised the £5.2 million needed to purchase a nine-screen multiplex in Cambridge from rival company Cineworld.[2] The latter had been forced to sell the venue following a Competition Commission ruling.[12]
At this point in January 2015, they had already signed new lease agreements in Bolton, Sheffield, Thetford, Dundee, Stockport and Walsall.[2] While the Dundee site eventually fell through as negotiations with the local shopping centre fell apart,[13] the other five venues successfully opened over the next three years.[8][14][15][16][17] Two more sites, in Addlestone and Bradford, opened in 2018, bringing their total in the UK up to 10.[18][6]
COVID-19 pandemic and reopening
Following the nationwide UK COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, cinemas across the country were forced to close. They were briefly able to reopen from August 2020, but following the imposition of a second and later a third lockdown in England, they were forced to close again.[19]
In May 2021, fourteen months after their initial closure, The Light cinemas were able to open again. This month also saw them open their eleventh UK venue in Sittingbourne.[19]
The economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic also destroyed the chain's hopes of opening a venue in Nottingham. Plans in the city fell apart when shopping centre company Intu, leaders on the transformation project, went into administration in June 2020 due to the pandemic.[9]
Despite this setback, Pullinger maintained that The Light was “actively seeking” a venue in Nottingham, with the chain offering an ‘expanded’ offering to new sites. This included not just cinema screenings, a café and bar, but also bowling, mini-golf, interactive darts, climbing facilities and karaoke. The first site to offer these new facilities was based in Banbury,[9] and opened in 2022.[20] In 2023, the chain’s 13th site was opened in Redhill, Surrey, including these facilities and also introducing for the first time axe throwing, curling and duckpin bowling.[21]
Future locations
Plans to open a venue in Huddersfield got off the ground in January 2021, after developer WD Limited was loaned £7 million by Kirklees Council.[22] After years of delays, which the developer blamed on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was announced in March 2023 that redevelopment would start imminently, with a target opening date set for September 2024.[23]
A venue in Colchester was announced in 2020, as part of the 'Tollgate Village' development project in Tollgate West, near Stanway, Essex. The cinema was originally slated to be finished by the end of 2021.[24] In June 2021 the directors of the firm responsible for the development said that they "hope to commence building next year [2022]".[25] As of June 2023, this development was expected to go ahead, although with no clear completion date set.[26]
International expansion
In Europe
After its founding in 2007, the first venues that the company opened were not in the UK. Before the opening of its New Brighton venue in 2011, The Light had opened a cinema in Bucharest, Romania in 2008, and another venue in Halle, Germany in 2009.[29] The Romanian part of the company dissolved in 2015,[30] and Pullinger announced that the venue in Germany would be closed in July 2021 due to financial pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.[31]
Saudi Arabia
In March 2019, The Light Cinemas 'made history' by being awarded an operating license to exhibit films in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This was done in cooperation with the London-based cinema consultancy firm The Big Picture, of which both Sullivan and Pullinger were founding partners, and in partnership with the FAHG Saudi fashion retail group run by Fawaz Alhokair, with venues being integrated into FAHG shopping centres. The brand name used in Saudi Arabia is MUVI, and it is described as Saudi Arabia's first home-grown cinema brand, founded only a year after the Kingdom lifted a thirty-five year ban on cinemas.[32]
This sparked controversy due to the international backlash against Saudi Arabia following the government's murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018. In response, Pullinger argued that the fallout from Khashoggi's murder was "for politicians to deal with", and that "Saudi Arabia represents the biggest opportunity for box office growth in the world". The Light claimed that it was one of only five companies to qualify for the Saudi government’s operating license at the time.[33] By the end of 2021, MUVI cinemas had successfully opened 21 locations across the country, alongside investing in film distribution and film production.[34]
